Always wondered what those UL, and CE symbols mean

http://www.pelican.com/new_products/trade2.html

Now ya know. Some of them are links also. Now I still have to figure out why my plastic contact lens case needed "CE" approval.

????? UL? CE?

just safety approvals..

Here's a more direct link:

http://www.pelican.com/lights_aprovals.html

Bushman---The case for your contact lenses is an accessory to the contacts. The lenses are a (government-regulated) medical device in most countries. That makes the case a medical device in some countries.
Medical devices need to be certified as safe and effective. I would bet that the CE mark is used to show that the plastic used for the case is a medical-grade polymer. That's my guess, at least.

UL Stands for Underwriters Laboratories, a US government backed body responsible for ensuring safety in products sold in America. They rigoriusly test each product for which the mark is being applied for. UL is commonly seen on electrical appliances and thier leads.
CE is the European safety mark. It also ensures electrical appliances conform to a strict emissions and immunity standard. New products destined for sale in the EU (including England) have to have been tested for electromagnetic compatibilty (EMC). The CE mark is also applied to such things as kids' toys, where it was first seen in the EU. It ensures that toys have been tested to the relevant safety standards.
CE has almost totally replaced the familiar British Standards Kite Mark as a safety symbol, along with German DIN numbers and French safety markings in an attempt to bring a unified approach to manufacturing safety.
The big drawback of CE is that it adds costs to manufacturers and this will obviously be passed on to the customer in higher prices. EMC type testing testing alone costs thousands per item, and industry tends to see this as another Eurocratic way for a few testing firms to make huge sums of money.

Wrong on several counts. Underwriters are insurers, and UL is the laboratory for the insurance industry, although it is largely self sufficient on registration and inspection fees. The Big facility is in Northbrook Illinois, and it is NOT a government agency. They have offices and inspection services just about anywhere in the world that electrical goods are made with the intention of sale into the US market.

It is what is referred to as a NRTL, Nationally Recognized Testing laborabory. There are actually several in the USA, the other that is reasonably well known is ETL.

The key feature here is testing. That means you don't claim you meet the UL standards, UL tests to insure, and when your equipment wears a UL label, UL has the right to visit your factory without notice, and conduct inspections to verify that the you are in compliance with the listing terms. That means you are using the approved parts in the applications, installing, and testing them according to the UL approved procedures. If you aren't, they can remove the UL logo from the plant, and any goods in inventory. You also get a bill 4 times a year for the listing service.When you see a UL label, there will usually be a 4 digit code next to it, that is the UL file number for the listing. With that and the 'Yellow Book', you can track any piece of UL listed equipment back to the manufacturer.For recognized, (and if you ever see a Printec circuit board that says 4V0,or 94V0, that is a statement that the board meets UL 94V0. Usually there will be a symbol near by, and that symbol is user defined, but registed with UL and is in the Yellow Book.

Some years ago we need some Flyback transformers for some monitors that were dying left and right. The original supplier refused to sell thatm at a price that was anywhere near reasonable. We had no idea what the specs were either.
But the FBT did have a UR symbol, and a logo. We traced the logo using the yellow book to the Toto-Ku electric company in Hiroshima Japan. It turned out to actually be made by a subsidiary, Taiwan-Totoku Electric, who was quite happy to make us the same part, for about 10% of what the original supplier wanted. So this stuff can be useful if you know how to use it.


There are two types of UL status. UL approved, which gives you the typical UL symbol, and a stylized UR, which means UL recognized. That is something that is generally not intended for use as delivered, but incorporated into something, and until it is incorporated, it is likely to fail certain UL tests, for example most open frame power supplies will fail the UL articulated finger test, but when installed in properly designed equipment, will pass. If you are a manufacturer, you life is infinitely easier if you stick to UL recognized components wherever possible. If you do, UL testing will not extend into those parts of your equipment since they have already been 'blessed'.

CE is a series of EEC directives. They are self certifying, that means that if you say you meet the directive, you can put the CE label on. That doesn't mean you actually do. For example FCC class A is self certifying. I have been out on an FCC certified test range many times. I have yet to see a Class A certified CRT display that actually is within the Class A standard!!! There is no real enforcement for the CE logo. There isn't any direct enforcement for UL, however it is illegal to plug anything into the wall in Los Angels County that isn't NRTL approved for electrical safety (ETL,UL and CSA are all acceptable, as is a County Fire Department inspection sticker), however the UL listed status makes a huge difference in the cost of product liability insurance, and also make a clear statement that the product has been designed AND tested to the highest current technical, fire, electrical, and mechanical safety standards. That is often a key issue in product liablity law suits.

I would add tht the EMC compability as spelled out by CE is a joke, and a very bad one. All it says is that you have to live with ever the noise someone else generates. There is no limitation on noise or interference generation, and I'd like to know how you realistic test for it.

FCC on the other hand doesn't say much about living with noise, but both class A and Class B place low, and very low limits on conducted and radiated emissions, and both have to verified by an Independent Test agency, and the procedure for class B is pretty onerous. The only thing comparable to FCC is the German VDE standards, and Canadian DOT standards. The CE standard isn't a standard, it is a bad joke.

The net result is that it is a given that a device with an FCC approval, will meet the CE directives. It is also almost a given that a device that only meets CE, will NOT meet FCC, VDE or DOT